Prayers are answered with this riveting movie.
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” is an action movie and a family drama that speaks for religion. It questions a man’s faith, especially when his faith is Muslim and he lives a secret life as a hitman. And it’s poignant, riveting, universally acted, and gorgeously photographed in warm colors by Katelin Arizmendi (“Dune”).
For an action movie, it’s not often we see a hitman use baby wipes to get the blood off his knife, and it’s not often we see one put on gloves with petroleum jelly and broken glass to fight his enemies. And last summer, I praised the action heroes of “The Furious” and “Motor City” for their versatilities.
And for a family drama, it sure knows how to represent a Muslim family in a Texas community where strip joints are converted into churches. And the characters adapt to the dialogue, while sticking to their values. And even at a party, these kids are still fasting.
Mahershala Ali stars as Latif, a Muslim hitman and father, whose wife (Shakirah DeMesier) just died, and is struggling to raise his three kids on his own. His youngest daughter-the baby Aziza-can’t stomach milk formula, and needs to drink breast milk. His only recourse is to turn a sex worker Fugazi (Tiffany Boone), who breast fed the baby the other night. While his eldest daughter Fathida (Adia) is looking on porn websites with WiFi provided by their Mormon neighbors, his only son Qadir (Jahleel Kamara) is starting to use words like “boobies.” And through their grief, they’re all supported by the local mosque run by his father-in-law (Giancarlo Esposito).
That sex worker used to work for his boss Mike’s (Laith Nakli) nephew Hatty (Abubakr Ali), who runs a porn site, which obviously is targeted by religious communities, especially the Iran War vet-turned-pastor Hwan Yoon (John Cho). He has the cowboy hat, gold teeth, guns, and followers to support him in his goal to cleanse the wicked. He wants Latif to kill the pastor, but he gains the upper hand, and now, the hitman is in danger.
“Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” is the second feature from writer/director Bassam Tariq (“Mogul Mowgli”), whose works regard the diversity of Muslim life and experience. In this challenging story, he paints a picture of vivd characters, traditions, and how unholy things like murder and porn are challenged by faith. Of course, religious figures would criticize Hatty for how he’s seen as a porn king, and it would be inevitable that a hitman would refuse to pray to his God for how he took his wife away.
There are two Mahershala Ali movie performances that stand the tests of time, and they would be “Moonlight” and “Green Book.” But with “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” it now becomes three. He converted to Islam in 2000 and became an Ahmadi Muslim a year later, and therefore, the actor is able to embrace his religion in this movie. And his performance is exceptional in the ways he plays a hitman and a widower caught in a dangerous game.
Adia makes her film acting debut, and she’s one of the year’s best and most passionate young stars. When she reads to her younger brother about a man approaching the Prophet Muhammad, she poetically reads: “Who is most deserving of good treatment,” which the Prophet responds: “Your Mother,” and as the question is repeated, he responds twice “Your Mother.” And when he asks him for the fourth time, the final answer is “Your Father.” Now that is powerful reading. And when she questions her father’s motives, she’s full of emotions and commitment. I’ve never heard of her, and her acting credits include the Netflix series “The Midnight Club,” but she reaches high in “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.”
I’m not too familiar with all faiths, but I do catch on the best to my abilities. And I can sense when a movie like this is devoted to its faith, while testing the patience of those who sin. And it wisely plays like a samurai movie that likes to take “John Wick” into different territory. This is one of the year’s best films.
In Select Theaters
Expands Throughout October
